Mediators are attempting to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Egypt and Qatar, focusing on a phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. However, talks face challenges as Israeli airstrikes continue to kill Palestinians in Gaza.
Sources close to the talks said mediators, at talks in Egypt and Qatar, seek to forge a deal to pause the 14-month-old war in the Hamas -ruled enclave that would include a release of hostages seized from Israel on October 7, 2023, along with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel . Mediators had managed to narrow some gaps on previous sticking points but differences remained, the sources said.
In Gaza, medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed overnight in separate Israeli airstrikes, including on two houses in Gaza City and a central camp. Residents of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, where the army has operated since October, said forces blew up clusters of houses overnight. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas 'The longer those talks last, the more destruction and death takes place in Gaza. Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya are being wiped out, Rafah too,' said Adel, 60, a resident of Jabalia, who is now displaced in Gaza City. Palestinians accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing in those areas by depopulating residents to create buffer zones. Israel denies this and says its campaign aims to wipe out Hamas, an Islamist militant group, and to prevent it from regrouping. Israel accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian infrastructure and the population as a human shield for its activities. Hamas denies it and accuses Israel of trying to justify the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians.PHASED OR COMPREHENSIVE? Sources close to the mediation efforts said Hamas had pushed for a one-package deal but Israel wanted a phased one. Talks are focused on a first-phase release of hostages, dead or alive, as well as a number of Palestinians jailed by Israe
GAZA CONFLICT HAMAS ISRAEL CEASEFIRE HOSTAGES PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS
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